Moving to Dublin/ surrounding area

tictac__x

Hi guys, I qualified in May last year and took a year out to travel. I am now returning to the teaching scene and the prospects of getting any amount of subbing in my area looks bleak :pac: I hope to move towards Dublin or surrounding areas at the end of August. Has anyone any advice for someone in my situation as regards good areas to consider, tips for my cv, would moving away from home be worth my while in regards to the amount of subbing I would likely get etc? Any information at all would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

linguist

I don't think that the demand for subbing will in any way be related to factors of geography. There was a time, before self-certified sick leave was really tightened up, when it might have been fair to say that teacher absenteeism would be higher in tougher areas. That has definitely changed as evidenced by the fact that teachers now have among the lowest rates of sickness related absence in the entire public service.

What schools are really looking for in a sub is that they can call you at 8.30 and you can be there as quickly as possible. So the straight answer would seem to be that if you're living close to the city centre you could cover the whole county! That said, anyone I've come across doing regular subbing in our school recently tended to be based fairly close by and get called on by a number of the schools in our general area.

The population is growing and school provision is expanding in the north and west of the county. So Fingal has lots of new schools and a mushrooming population as have places like Dublin 15, Lucan, Adamstown etc. But there is no short answer. Every school needs cover and you could just as easily base yourself in leafy Foxrock and focus on the schools out there. It's your call! One thing that I would say is that if you're coming from 'the country' please don't have a negative attitude towards certain parts of Dublin, particularly those with problems. A lot of them were caused by rural ministers (!) but seriously if you can come in and keep good order in a DEIS school, it will really stand to you in terms of references. Keeping order in a fee-paying girls' school isn't usually that much of a challenge!

janes1234

linguist wrote:

Keeping order in a fee-paying girls' school isn't usually that much of a challenge!

Having worked in posh to so called rough areas this statement is not necessarily true.

5ub

janes1234 wrote: »

Having worked in posh to so called rough areas this statement is not necessarily true.

No, it is not true. My own experiences in a fee-paying girls school in Dublin were anything but easy.

linguist

Fair enough. Mine were when I did it. My point is that if you can cut it in a rough school, it'll stand to you in terms of references. Also, you learn a lot about the need to be firm but very definitely fair in an environment like that.

5ub

Ah yeah, we all have different experiences. I am in a DEIS school now and I really could not ask for a nicer place